WalMart

I have always thought Walmart acts as a big bully, and this article proves my point. They gather all the information they can get their hands on even though they don’t use all of it. They don’t share much of this information with their suppliers and this makes an unhealthy relationship between walmart and suppliers.

 How do you feel about the privacy issue?

According to the article, “the Internet has less than half as much data” as Walmart does. What on earth do they need this much data for? Furthermore, they store the date for indefinite lengths of time. They have people’s mortgage amounts, court dates, driving records, email address, etc. This isn’t information they need for their business, nor is it necessary to keep this information forever. They claim all of this information is safe, but how can we be sure? Walmart employees have access to everything about us! It makes me feel extremely uncomfortable knowing this. If Walmart was actually using this information to help their business, I may be a little more at ease, but it specifically states in the article they have never tried to squeeze the data and it is not necessary. I’m definitely going to pay in cash more often rather than with a credit or debit card.

Was Walmart successful at converting data into competitive advantage?

Walmart is able to make some productive changes with the data they have. They are able to predict which products will be needed after certain situation and what time of the day more cashiers are needed. They can also gauge how business will be in a new store and what products are usually purchased together.   I’m sure they make many more decisions based on the data that are not included in the article.

Then again, Walmart has more than double the amount of data as the Internet! You would think their stores would be much more organized because of this. In no way is shopping at Walmart a high priority for me. There usually aren’t enough cashiers or people willing to help you find things, and the store tends to be a mess all around. I’ve never walked into Walmart and thought “this was a great idea on Walmart’s part.” Maybe I don’t pay close enough attention, but I don’t see great changes being made.

 As stated in class, some products are constantly changing showing they are not able to figure out what customers really want or they just don’t care. No matter how unorganized the store is, there will still be customers because Walmart generally has the lowest prices. Because of this, it makes sense that they are only concerned with their profit margins and not what customers want.

Is the technology helping or hurting suppliers?

I have a strong believe that Walmart is hurting their suppliers in more way than one. They force deals that are disadvantageous for suppliers. They have so much information that can potentially help suppliers be more profitable and make informed decisions about what products and the amounts to sell to Walmart. The article states Walmart shares some information with suppliers but for the most part it hoards its information obsessively. Suppliers openly say they don’t want to deal with Walmart, but they have no choice. Like I said before, customers will keep shopping at Walmart and Walmart will continue to take advantage of this and be a big bully.